Desktop computing has rapidly evolved over the last 10 years. Once defined as physical PCs, Windows desktop environments now include everything from virtual to shared hosted (RDSH), to cloud based. With these changes, the enterprise application landscape has also changed drastically over the last few years.

Desktop
computing has rapidly evolved over the last 10 years. Once defined as
physical PCs, Windows desktop environments now include everything from
virtual to shared hosted (RDSH), to cloud based. With these changes, the
enterprise application landscape has also changed drastically over the
last few years.

This whitepaper provides an overview of Citrix AppDNA with Liquidware Labs FlexApp.

FlexApp Application Layering in ProfileUnity enables applications to be virtualized in such an innate way that they look native to the Windows OS and other applications.

This whitepaper has been authored by experts at Liquidware to provide guidance to adopters of desktop virtualization technologies. It provides an overview of FlexApp concepts and ways in which FlexApp can serve as a cornerstone in an application delivery strategy. FlexApp Application Layering is an integrated part of ProfileUnity that enables applications to be virtualized innately so they look native to the Windows operating system (OS) and other applications. FlexApp is a perfect complement to ProfileUnity, which provides full user- environment management (UEM) with advanced features such as Application Rights Management and context-aware settings for printer and policy management. Although FlexApp is cost effectively licensed with ProfileUnity, the solution can be licensed separately if your organization has already standardized on an alternative UEM solution. Application layering leads to much higher rates of compatibility than earlier technologies, which used application isolation to virtualize applications. Once applications have been packaged for layering, they are containerized on virtual hard disks (VHDs) or virtual machine disk files (VMDKs) and can be centrally assigned to users on a machine-level or context-aware basis. FlexApp DIA (department installed applications) are compatible with virtual, physical, and Server Based Computing (SBC) environments such as Citrix XenApp and RDSH. Select users in specialized virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments can also be empowered to install their own applications through a similar feature in ProfileUnity known as FlexApp user-installed applications (UIA). FlexApp DIA greatly reduces desktop administration overhead by dramatically reducing the need for traditional software distribution and a reduction in the number of base images needed to support users. FlexApp UIA was designed to make more users, including knowledge and task workers, compatible with VDI. Together, FlexApp UIA and DIA are powerful allies of VDI users and administrators.

This whitepaper has been authored by experts at Liquidware in order to provide guidance to adopters of desktop virtualization technologies. In this paper, we outline how ProfileUnity was designed to address many of the shortcomings of Roaming Profiles, and basic profile management tools that are just a step away from roaming profiles, in managing user profiles and user-authored data over multiple desktop platforms, including physical upgrades and refreshes, Windows migrations and more.

User Profile Management on Microsoft Windows desktops continues to provide challenges. Most Administrators find that Roaming Profiles and even Microsoft UEV generally fall short due to several factors. Profile Corruption, Lack of Customization, and lack of Enterprise Features are just some of the top shortcomings of Microsoft Windows profile management with these options.

Basic tools such as roaming profiles do not support a mixed operating environment, therefore it does not allow users to move among desktops with mixed profile versions, e.g. Windows 7, Windows 10, Server2008, 2012 r2, etc.

The lack of support of mixed OS versions makes Microsoft profile management methods a serious hindrance when upgrading/migrating operating systems. Microsoft profile management tools also only support very limited granular management, so admins do not have the ability to exclude bloated areas of a user profile or to include files and registry keys outside of the profile. Profile bloat is one of the number one reasons for long logon times on Windows desktops.

Most organizations who will upgrade from a previous Windows® OS, such as Windows 7, to Windows 10, will want the flexibility to move at their own pace and upgrade machines on a departmental or ‘as needed’ basis. As a result, management of Microsoft profiles and migration become a huge challenge for these environments because neither operation is seamlessly supported or functional between the two operating systems.

A user’s profile consists of nearly everything needed to provide a personalized user experience within Windows. If one could separate out the user profile from Windows and enable dynamic profiles that can adapt to any Windows OS version, several advantages can be realized:

User state can be stored separately and delivered just-in-time to enable workers to roam from workspace to workspace

Users’ profiles can co-exist in mixed OS environments or automatically migrate from one OS to the next, making OS upgrades easy and essentially irrelevant during a point-in-time upgrade

Integral policies and self-managed settings, such as local and network printer management, as well as security policies, can be readily restored in the event of a PC failure or loss (disaster recovery)

Given the growing complexity and diversity of Windows desktops technologies, today’s desktop administrators are looking for better ways to manage user profiles across the ever-increasing spectrum of desktop platforms available. In this whitepaper, we will cover the issues inherent with Roaming Profiles and how ProfileUnity addresses these issues.

In this guide you will learn about Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery planning with Zerto's Disaster Recovery Solutions for Virtualized Environments. In today’s always-on, information-driven organizations, business continuity depends completely on IT infrastructures that are up and running 24/7. Being prepared for any data related disaster is key!

In this guide you will learn about Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery planning with Zerto's Disaster Recovery Solutions for Virtualized Environments.

In today’s always-on, information-driven organizations, business continuity depends completely on IT infrastructures that are up and running 24/7. Being prepared for any data related disaster is key!

The cost and business impact of downtime and data loss can be immenseUtilizing Zerto’s Disaster Recovery solutions can greatly mitigate downtime and data loss with RTO’s of minutes and RPO’s of seconds

Data loss is not only caused by natural disasters, power outages, hardware failure and user errors, but more and more by software problems and cyber security related disasters

Zerto’s DR solutions are applicable for both on-premise and cloud (DRaaS) virtual environments

Having a plan and process in place will help you mitigate the impact of an outage on your business

In this booklet we provide insights into the challenges, needs, strategies, and solutions for disaster recovery and business continuity, especially in modern, virtualized environments and the public cloud.

Download this white paper and learn more about Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery preparedness and how Zerto can help!

The virtualization of physical computers has become the backbone of public and private cloud computing from desktops to data centers, enabling organizations to optimize hardware utilization, enhance security, support multi-tenancy and more. These environments are complex and ephemeral, creating requirements and challenges beyond the capability of traditional monitoring tools that were originally designed for static physical environments. But modern solutions exist, and can bring your virtual env

OVERVIEW

The virtualization of physical computers has become the backbone of public and private cloud computing from desktops to data centers, enabling organizations to optimize hardware utilization, enhance security, support multi-tenancy and more. These environments are complex and ephemeral, creating requirements and challenges beyond the capability of traditional monitoring tools that were originally designed for static physical environments. But modern solutions exist, and can bring your virtual environment to new levels of efficiency, performance and scale.

This guide explains the pervasiveness of virtualized environments in modern data centers, the demand these environments create for more robust monitoring and analytics solutions, and the keys to getting the most out of virtualization deployments.

UNC Health Care selected IGEL Universal Desktop Converter (UDC) and IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) for simplicity, cost-savings and security. This document outlines key findings on how IGEL helps organizations manage entire fleets of thin clients from a single console. In addition, you will see how IGEL Universal Desktop Converter provides IT organizations with the flexibility they need to convert any compatible thin client, desktop or laptop computer into an IGEL thin client solution, wi

“The need to provide users with access to their desktops from any device anywhere, anytime is driving a growing number of IT organizations to migrate toward VDI environments,” said Simon Clephan, Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Alliances, IGEL. “One of the key advantages that IGEL brings to the table is the simplicity that comes from being able to manage an entire fleet of thin clients from a single console. Additionally, the IGEL Universal Desktop Converter provides IT organizations with the flexibility they need to convert any compatible thin client, desktop or laptop computer into an IGEL thin client solution, without having to make an upfront investment in new hardware to support their virtualized infrastructures.”

UNC Health Care selected the IGEL UDC and UMS software for its Citrix VDI deployment following a “bake-off” between thin client solutions. “IGEL won hands down due the simplicity and superiority of its management capabilities,” said James Cole, Technical Architect, UNC Health Care. “And, because the IGEL UDC software is designed to quickly and efficiently convert existing endpoint hardware into IGEL Linux OS-powered thin clients, we knew that by selecting the IGEL solution we would also realize a significant reduction in our capital expenditures.”

Since initiating the deployment of the IGEL UDC and UMS software, UNC Health Care has also experienced significant time savings. “Prior to deploying the IGEL UDC and UMS software, it took our team 25-30 minutes to create a virtual image on each system, not counting the personalization of the system for each use case, now that process takes less than 10 minutes, and even less time when converting the system to VDI roaming,” added Cole.

Additionally, the ease of integration between the IGEL UDC and IGEL UMS with Citrix XenDesktop and other solutions offered by Citrix Ecosystem partners, including Imprivata, has enabled secure access to the health care network’s Epic Systems’ Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system.

In an effort to optimize the productivity of its employees and enable them to have more time to focus on their customers, Fulton sought to upgrade the thin clients for its Citrix application virtualization infrastructure. With the help of its Citrix partner and IGEL Platinum Partner, Plan B Technologies, Fulton selected the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD6) thin clients featuring Intel Celeron J1900 Quad-Core processors and the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS).

Fulton Financial Corporation has a long and storied history that began in 1882 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where local merchants and farmers organized Fulton National Bank. The bank’s name was chosen to honor Lancaster County native Robert Fulton, the inventor and artist best known for designing and building the Clermont, the first successful steamboat.

In an effort to optimize the productivity of its employees and enable them to have more time to focus on their customers, Fulton sought to upgrade the thin clients for its Citrix application virtualization infrastructure, with the help of its Citrix partner and IGEL Platinum Partner, Plan B Technologies.

In selecting a desktop computing solution to support its Citrix application virtualization infrastructure, Fulton had one unique business requirement, they were looking for a solution that would mirror the experience provided by a Windows PC, without actually being a Windows PC.

During the evaluation process, Fulton looked at thin clients from IGEL and another leading manufacturer, conducting a “bake-off” of several models including the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD6). Fulton like the fact that IGEL is forward- thinking in designing its desktop computing solutions, and began its IGEL roll-out by purchasing 2,300 IGEL UD6 thin clients in 2016 for its headquarters and branch offices, and plans to complete the roll out of IGEL thin clients to the remainder of its 3,700 employees in the coming months. The bank is also leveraging the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) to manage its fleet of IGEL thin clients.

Lockton was in the midst of a Citrix VDI roll-out when one of its thin client manufacturers changed some of the key features on the model the insurance broker was using to power its endpoints. This presented a number of challenges that the Lockton team needed to overcome during a critical stage in the VDI roll-out. Lockton was introduced to IGEL by Choice Solutions, an IGEL Platinum Partner, and selected the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD2-LX); IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS); IGEL Universal D

Although Lockton is the world’s largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm, clients most frequently describe the insurance broker as team members who make their businesses better. Energy, innovation and deep expertise fuel Lockton’s focus on solving its clients’ problems and achieving real results.

It is this spirit of innovation that led Lockton to recently embark on the deployment of Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) at its headquarters in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City, MO., and local office locations across the United States and around the globe.

Lockton was about a quarter of the way through its Cirrus VDI deployment when one of its thin client manufacturers changed some of the key features on the model the insurance broker was using, without warning. This presented a number of challenges that Lockton’s IT team was unable to overcome during a critical stage in the VDI roll-out.

Around the same time Lockton was experiencing issues with the thin client manufacturer, they participated in a charity golf tournament in Kansas City that was hosted by IGEL Platinum Partner Choice Solutions and sponsored by IGEL. Following the golf tournament, Lockton tested the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD2-LX) and the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) management console. The insurer realized immediately that the superior design and secure infrastructure management capabilities would make it possible for them to easily manage their entire network of thin clients in the U.S. from the company’s headquarters in Kansas City, and this was a key selling point.

To date, with the help of Choice Solutions, Lockton has deployed 1,200 IGEL UD2-LX thin clients and expected that number to increase to 1,800 by the end of 2017. Lockton also has a small number of licenses for the IGEL Universal Desktop Converter software which they are leveraging to turn hardware from other thin client manufacturers into IGEL-powered endpoints. Additionally, the insurer is using the IGEL UD Pocket to deliver the IGEL desktop to employees using legacy thin client hardware.

Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union was looking for a more powerful endpoint computing solution to deliver e-mail and core financial applications through its Citrix-based infrastructure to its end-users, and IGEL’s Universal Desktop thin clients and Universal Management Suite (UMS) software fit the bill.

Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union is more than just a bank. It is a financial cooperative intent on helping its members save time, save money and earn money. Over the years, the credit union has grown from providing financial resources to military service members and their families to serving hundreds of thousands of members across Texas and around the world. RBFCU has a presence in three major market areas — Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — and has more than 55 branches dedicated to serving members and the community.

First and foremost, RBFCU is people. It’s the more than 1,800 employees who serve members’ needs each day. It’s the senior team and Board of Directors that guide the credit union’s growth. It’s the members who give their support and loyalty to the credit union each day.

To help its employees provide the credit union’s members with the highest levels of services and support, Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union relies on IGEL’s endpoint computing solutions.

Millard Public Schools is currently leveraging the IGEL UD Pocket, a revolutionary micro client, inside the district’s computer-aided design (CAD) classrooms to securely and cost-effectively deliver Autodesk software to their CAD students via a Citrix virtual desktop.

Millard Public Schools was looking for a secure and cost-effective way to deliver graphics intensive CAD applications to students via Citrix virtual desktops. The school district selected the IGEL UD Pocket and is now leveraging the micro thin client inside its CAD classrooms. Some of the key benefits the district has experienced as a result of the IGEL solution include ease of management and configuration, time and cost savings, support for a robust multimedia experience, and enhanced endpoint security as students are now only able to access their Windows-based, GPU-enabled virtual desktops from a secured Linux-based endpoint.

In 2014, Austin-based Trinsic Technologies introduced Anytime Cloud. Anytime Cloud is a Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution designed to help SMB clients improve the end user computing experience and streamline business operations. Through Anytime Cloud, customers gain access to the latest cloud and virtualization technologies using IGEL thin clients with Parallels, a virtual application and desktop delivery software application.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Trinsic Technologies is a technology solutions provider focused on delivering managed IT and cloud solutions to SMBs since 2005.

In 2014, Trinsic introduced Anytime Cloud, a Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) designed to help SMB clients improve the end user computing experience and streamline business operations. To support Anytime Cloud, the solution provider was looking for a desktop delivery and endpoint management solution that would fulfill a variety of different end user needs and requirements across the multiple industries it serves. Trinsic also wanted a solution that provided ease of management and robust security features for clients operating within regulated industries such as healthcare and financial services.

The solution provider selected the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD) thin clients, the IGEL Universal Desktop Converter (UDC), the IGEL OS and the IGEL Universal Management Suite. As a result, some of the key benefits Trinsic has experienced include ease of management and configuration, security and data protection, improved resource allocation and cost savings.

This solution guide outlines some of the regulatory issues any business faces when it prints sensitive material. It discusses how a Citrix-IGEL-ThinPrint bundled solution meets regulation criteria such as HIPAA standards and the EU’s soon-to-be-enacted General Data Protection Regulations without diminishing user convenience and productivity.

Print data is generally unencrypted and almost always contains personal, proprietary or sensitive information. Even a simple print request sent from an employee may potentially pose a high security risk for an organization if not adequately monitored and managed. To put it bluntly, the printing processes that are repeated countless times every day at many organizations are great ways for proprietary data to end up in the wrong hands.

Mitigating this risk, however, should not impact the workforce flexibility and productivity print-anywhere capabilities deliver. Organizations seek to adopt print solutions that satisfy government-mandated regulations for protecting end users and that protect proprietary organizational data — all while providing a first-class desktop and application experience for users.

This solution guide outlines some of the regulatory issues any business faces when it prints sensitive material. It discusses how a Citrix-IGEL-ThinPrint bundled solution meets regulation criteria such as HIPAA standards and the EU’s soon-to-be-enacted General Data Protection Regulations without diminishing user convenience and productivity.

Finally, this guide provides high-level directions and recommendations for the deployment of the bundled solution.

Enabling voice and video with a bundled solution in an existing Citrix environment delivers clearer and crisper voice and video than legacy phone systems. This solution guide describes how Sennheiser headsets combine with Citrix infrastructure and IGEL endpoints to provide a better, more secure user experience. It also describes how to deploy the bundled Citrix-Sennheiser-IGEL solution.

Virtualizing Windows applications and desktops in the data center or cloud has compelling security, mobility and management benefits, but delivering real-time voice and video in a virtual environment is a challenge. A poorly optimized implementation can increase costs and compromise user experience. Server scalability and bandwidth efficiency may be less than optimal, and audio-video quality may be degraded.

Enabling voice and video with a bundled solution in an existing Citrix environment delivers clearer and crisper voice and video than legacy phone systems. This solution guide describes how Sennheiser headsets combine with Citrix infrastructure and IGEL endpoints to provide a better, more secure user experience. It also describes how to deploy the bundled Citrix-Sennheiser-IGEL solution.

Thin client vendor Igel is enhancing the security capabilities of its products, both under its own steam and in collaboration with technology partners. Ovum sees these developments as important for the next wave of thin client computing, which will be software-based – particularly if the desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) market is to take off.

With hardware-based thin client shipments in the region of 4–5 million units annually, this market is still a drop in the ocean compared to the 270 million PCs shipping each year, though the latter figure has been declining since 2011. And within the thin client market, Igel is in fourth place behind Dell and HP (each at around 1.2 million units annually) and China’s Centerm, which only sells into its home market.

However, the future for thin clients looks bright, in that the software-based segment of the market (which some analyst houses refuse to acknowledge) is expanding, particularly for Igel. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technology has stimulated this growth, but the greatest promise is probably in the embryonic DaaS market, whereby enterprises will have standard images for their workforce hosted by service providers.

Organizations now have a variety of cloud-based options for delivering virtualized applications and desktops. Cloud deployments are fast, involve lower hardware footprint and simplify IT operations. A key question to answer in this context is whether Citrix Cloud services make performance monitoring easier than it was for on-premises deployments. Read this white paper and find out how to implement monitoring for Citrix Cloud environments.

The technology of cloud computing has caught up with virtual desktop infrastructures. Tapping into the agility and flexibility of cloud-hosted infrastructures, Citrix Cloud enables organizations to simplify digital workspace delivery. With many of the critical components of the Citrix delivery infrastructure hosted in the cloud and managed by Citrix, organizations can speed up deployment, lower hardware footprint, increase ROI, simplify IT operations. Despite the many benefits of Citrix Cloud, the performance management challenges still persist, just as they do in traditional on-premises Citrix deployments.

Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp delivers full Windows VDI, hosted session desktops, as well as applications to meet the demands of an expansive variety of use cases, allowing employees to access their apps, desktops and data without the limitations of traditional Windows desktop solutions.

Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp delivers full Windows VDI, hosted session desktops, as well as applications to meet the demands of an expansive variety of use cases, allowing employees to access their apps, desktops and data without the limitations of traditional Windows desktop solutions. Citrix is known all over the world for its leading desktop solutions — for good reason: Citrix expertly solves Windows delivery and desktop challenges for customers. In order to make the Citrix desktop experience seamless for end users and desktop administrators, Citrix currently provides basic solutions that solve some longstanding Windows challenges in two key areas – User Profile Management and Application Layering. Liquidware Labs – a Citrix Ready Premier partner – also offers solutions that address the challenges of User Profile Management and Application Layering in Windows desktop environments. Our ProfileUnity solution offers full-featured User Environment Management (which encompasses User Profile Management). FlexApp, which can be integrated with ProfileUnity or used as a stand-alone solution, addresses the area of application layering. This paper initially covers the topics of profile management and user environment management, and then shifts focus to Application Layering. The purpose of this document is to outline the typical uses cases for the Citrix solutions, and then go on to explain when it is more appropriate to utilize the more sophisticated ProfileUnity with FlexApp solution to more completely address gaps in the desktop environment.